School Is In Session!

I cannot tell a lie:  I AM SO GLAD SCHOOL HAS STARTED.  You know I love my kids, but even moms need a couple of hours once in a while to recharge.  During the summer those hours are few and far between.  Like teachers who need their summer breaks, I need my school time.  I also enjoy helping my kids with homework.  It reminds me of how much I do not remember (anyone want to explain direct objects {DO} and indirect objects {IO} to me.)  It also helps me keep my mind sharp.  (Math is my favorite!)  This year it also has told me (in eight days) how quickly things are taught now.  I do not remember learning DO and IO until high school and my oldest is only in 7th grade!  This year is also the first year that all three of my kids are excited to go to school in the morning!  Homework gets done every night.  This is a big deal because for the past two years Chris has been on a "homework strike."

Here is a quick health update:

Cassidy's asthma is at it again!  She had a major attack last Saturday in Chicago.  It was bad enough that I almost called the paramedics.  Since then she has had decent days and horrible nights.  She is up most of the night  and day, so she is extremely tired.  This week has also been very hot.  Ninety plus temps everyday with the humidity close to 90 percent.  It has made things uncomfortable for everyone.  (Some schools in the area closed early due to the heat.  They did not have AC.)  Hopefully now that the weather is cooling off she will start to feel better.

Family Tree

I have found that searching for family members you know almost nothing about is an interesting experience.  I did not realize how many Stinebaughs there have been in the United States.  From my perspective Stinebaugh is an uncommon name.  The only Stinebaughs I have ever heard of are from our family.  And now I have figured out where some of our family names have come from ~ Daniel, Samuel, etc.  These names have been around for a very long time.  And do you know how many Marys we have had in our family!!!   Even with all of that, I am enjoying every minute of of my search.

On another note, when it rains like crazy in a very short period of time DO NOT go shopping!  Parking lots flood in minutes!

Family Genealogy

Why is it that family reunions can make a person really think about where their family came from?  I think I know.  I just returned home from Oklahoma where I attended my family reunion with 45 other crazy family members.  I say crazy because most of us drove for quite a while for a one day event.  (Fyi ~ there is talk that it will be a 2 day event in 2 years! )  As always everyone asks how we are all related and it gets a little confusing.  I enjoy every bit of the confusion, but sometimes it is hard to keep track of everyone.  We have a very big family, even if only a small portion comes to the reunion.

Because no one, not even me, can keep everyone straight I decided to start a family tree.  Now mind you I have done a family directory every couple of years just to try to keep everyone current.  Although the last one I did was apparently in 2008 and so it is VERY outdated.  (Lots of new babies and marriages, etc.)  I love doing it and will continue to do it as long as I am able to, but this year I came home and went to work on a family tree.  I have only been home since Monday afternoon (I got home after 1 am Sunday night and I spent the night at my mother's house.)  There are so many different ancestry websites on the internet that will help you find people and research connections.  I have looked at lots of them and kind of got discouraged with the cost.  However while I was in OK, my cousin's sister told my about a website that allows you to go up to 250 members of your family for free.  Great!  I can get started and see how I like the program.  (Most sites I have looked at don't let you do much for free.)

Here became the problem:  Our family is just too big.  I got one branch of our Stinebaugh family into the system and was already almost out of room.  When I added the two other branches I had already written out I ran out of room.  Mind you, my great grandmother's parents had NINE kids.  I had only put in 3!  Well, the site allows you to invite family members to look at your tree and add to it, comment on it, add pictures, etc.  Now here is why my family is so terrific ~ one of my cousins asked if he could pay the fee because he thought the site was so cool and we would use it a lot.  I love my family!

As of right now we have 400 people on our tree and that is just the start.  I have been working on it a little every day and keep finding new members of our family.  So much fun!  I have a feeling that when the next reunion rolls around our tree will be gigantic!!  I cannot wait to see.

Reflections

Cassidy turned 12 today.   12!!!!!  I cannot believe how fast time is going.  The storms tonight made me remember the storms when she was born. Twelve years ago I was in the hospital in the middle of a huge storm and Cassidy decided to come.  What a stinker!  The power went out in the hospital for about 30 seconds and life got really interesting.   Cassidy has made my life wonderful in so many ways.  I would not trade one crazy day for anything. All of the hospital stays, the Girl Scout meetings,  and complaints about being the only girl have made life so enjoyable.

Cassidy has been so excited today. "Guess what?  It's my golden birthday, mom!"  That puts things into a 12 year old's perspective.  They get excited about the little things.

WOW

WOW!!  It is amazing how quickly time flies!

As of my last post we have had a hospitalization, 4-H (county fair), Boy Scouts, and school starting very quickly!

First:  About a month after I last updated everything, you guessed it ~ Cassidy was in the hospital.  We went to the ER on Saturday night, mainly to get a refill of nebulizer meds.  (I did not want to risk a problem with running out.)  When we left the ER at 12:30 am, Cassidy's pulse ox was 98.  I thought we had managed to catch whatever was going on early enough. Boy was I wrong!  By 8:30 am (eight hours later), I knew things were not so good.  We went back to the ER and Cassidy's pulse ox was 79!  The biggest problem was that even with breathing treatments, it would NOT go up.  I knew then that we would be going into the hospital, but I did not know which one.  I was given a choice ~ Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis or Memorial Children's Hospital in South Bend.

Restart of this post:

Somehow I did not actually finish or publish this update.  (Today is June 8, 2013.)

So let's try again.

To be honest, I do not remember the exact date I started this post to begin with.  So I will try to update everything.

The hospitalization was in May.  We ended up going to South Bend Memorial Children's hospital (May 2012.)  Cassidy was there for a week.  I cannot imagine a better hospital.  It is so much closer than Riley's and the doctors and nurses were fabulous!  (Rileys is a great hospital also, but Memorial is so much closer, so I like it better.)  Cassidy hated being in the PICU, but things could have been so much worse.  I saw so many kids much sicker than her and I am so grateful that she is not worse.

The 4-H fair was a lot of fun.  Cassidy was there everyday, because she had to take care of her horse.She did really well and made a lot of new friends.   Chris and Barry had one project in the fair ~ Legos.  Cassidy also had a scrapbook in the fair.  It was a nice slow introduction to 4-H and fair craziness.  They all got A awards in their projects.

Chris is now an official Boy Scout.  He really likes his troop and they do activities every month.  He has gone white water rafting, backpacking, and helped at winter fest.  He also went to a survival "training" weekend, where he did not sleep in a tent and learned to start a fire without matches (kind of a scary thought.)  Barry will join him as a Boy Scout next March.

We have made it through another school year.  Barry was in his last year at Yost (fourth grade).  Kind of a sad thought.  I no longer have a child in elementary school.  I was the PTO president at the school this year.  Very crazy!  I loved every minute, however I now know how much volunteers make all the difference.  Cassidy was a fifth grader at Westchester Intermediate.  She had some trouble with teacher's understanding her IEP and following it.  Because I come from a family full of teachers I am totally on the teacher's side when my children do something wrong, but when it comes to their ability to learn I have to fight for my kids.  Cassidy did fine until she was in the hospital again in November.  Because she was sick, her teacher gave her  an F in a project she was unable to finish.  I was angry!  I was able to get Cassidy in the class she needed to be in and she did really well through the rest of the year.  Chris decided that as a sixth grader, he was on a home work strike.  His grades definitely reflected that.  He still managed to pass his classes, but his grades were lower than they should have been.

Now we are at the end of this crazy update, well, no not yet.  :)

Chris was diagnosed with Asperger's.  This has helped explain a lot of what goes on in his head to me, his teachers, and people who know him.  It has also made it easier to figure out what kind of help he needs.  He now gets group counseling and individual counseling.  He really enjoys group counseling.  He reminds me that we have to go.  :)  Makes my life a little easier.  He seems to be more willing to think before he acts which is a great thing.  Still have a long way to go, but we are on our way!

Cassidy now sees an asthma specialist and because of this she only was in the hospital one time this school year, although she spent Thanksgiving in the PICU.   She still has flare ups, but now we are starting to get a handle on things.  She has gone through one part of her allergy testing and she has two more to go.  So far, no allergies yet.  :)

Barry is my calm, healthy child.  I think God knew that I needed a break after everything I have gone through with Chris and Cassidy.  Hopefully Barry will continue to stay healthy.  :)  All three kids have projects for this year's fair.  We have a lot to do!

A Little Reflection

I was re-reading some of my older posts. It is amazing how much my kids have changed, yet still stayed the same. Chris still has his issues with anger, although the tantrums/meltdowns have gotten further apart and less scary. Cassidy has not had any hospital visits since last June and we are finally seeing a doctor close to us that will hopefully mean some answers. And Barry, well is still a little boy with huge dreams.  And me, well, I am not 100% sure exactly how much I have changed, but I know I have.

I find myself caring more about the hurts of other people. I have always cared and been more than willing to pray for other people, but now I find myself much more impacted by stories I hear. The illnesses of people I have never met, the damage done in a tornado to people whose names I do not know, the soldiers killed in battle, while these always bothered me, now I cry for them. I am not complaining at all, but I did not realize how much this changed until I re-read the posts of not just me but others' too.

With my life, like so many people around me, SO incredibly busy, I find myself shocked that I care so much more. I am not whining about this, but I would have expected to be more jaded toward the hurts of others. I have seen people I know and care about getting more blasé about life and what is going on in the world and it really bothers me.  I get discouraged to see people close up and quick caring.   Why is it that the only time people seem to care is when something drastic occurs (tornado, earthquake, death)?  What happened to the people how care about the little things (illness, depression, loneliness)?  Not that to the people experiencing these things ever feel like the issues are small. 

 

Every once in a while, someone will surprise me and do the opposite of the rest of the world.  I have seen the people who smile even when they are in terrible pain just to make someone's day or give every penny to a friend when the friend needs help.  I am glad I feel more for others.  I would hate to be one of the people who do not care anymore.  I hope I continue to care.

Long Time In Coming

Well, I did warn you that it would be a while before I posted again. I have found myself slightly overwhelmed will volunteer stuff. (I think I need to learn to say NO!) To be honest I have no idea what I said in my last blog, so I will start fairly early in this school year. In September, Cassidy and I went to Riley Children's Hospital. She saw a specialist there and I was excited to maybe start getting some answers. Unfortunately, we did not make it to another appointment. My car broke down and my mother was in an accident, so we did not have a way to get there. We kind of muddled through the fall and winter, no hospital visits, but may bouts of illnesses. In March, Cassidy got sick yet again. The doctor put her on an antibiotic and oral steroid. The following week we were back at the doctor and he put her on another 5 day dose of oral steroids. We were at the ER that Saturday night (which just happened to be my birthday) with her breathing trouble. The doctor there said she had a viral sinus infection and he put her on a nasal spray and benedryl to dry her out. That did not work and we were back at the doctor on Wednesday of the following week. The doctor then decided that she needed to refer us to an asthma specialist here in Portage and she had her nurse make us an appointment for the first available time. We ended up back at the ER that Friday. The doctor there put her back on an oral steroid and almost admitted her. Thankfully her pulse ox went from 89 to 100 after two breathing treatments and a dose of very powerful medicine. We went to the specialist last Thursday and he said that her problems probably are immune system related and not an allergy issue. She is getting a CAT scan done on Friday of next week. Hopefully this will get us some much needed answers.
That is the major update about Cassidy. Now for the minor stuff. Christopher has bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. He went on his first official overnight camping trip with them the weekend of my birthday. He had a very good time and is excited about going on another trip. Barry is now a Webelos Scout. He has two more years in Cub Scouts before he bridges to Boy Scouts. He is kind of glad that his brother is not in his pack anymore. Both boys are doing well in school and things are pretty smooth in that area of life. All three kids really like school and that makes me a happy mom. Cassidy is a Junior Girl Scout. Her troop has done quite a bit this year. They wrote and acted out a play about roles women play and they had a really god time with that. Now they are making a "Life Quilt" that has panels with words like bullying, acceptance, friendship, etc. On the quilt are also the words the girls came up with to describe these words or the feeling that they feel when they here the words. The quilt is being given to the principal to hang in the school.
I do not know how much you all want to here about me, but here it is. I am the PTO vice-president (not a job I ever expected to have.) I am the Girl Scout coordinator for our school. That means I answer any questions from the other leaders and I had to find the leaders in the first place. This job I like :). I am on the Cub Scout committee and do a lot to help them out. I run Market Day for our school and don't really mind this job. I almost feel that I live at the school. It makes for an interesting adventure.
My family is doing well. Jenny surprised us on Easter. No one expected to see her since New York is pretty far away. Nick and Krista and Andrew are doing well. Matt and Becky and Gretchen and Lucas are fine. Lucas really likes the beach. Mom is visiting Maria and Joel right now and they are fine also. Elena is teaching ceramics classes at the studio where she does her art work. Alex and Jackie and Alexis and Felicity are still in Azerbaijan. I haven't seen them in a while. I hope to see them when they come home for the summer. :) I know this a bit of a rambling account, but it seems to be the easiest way to update everything. Hopefully it will not be this long before I write again.